PIA News Service - Thursday, December 26, 2013

BUTUAN CITY, Dec. 26 (PIA) - The Department of
Trade and Industry (DTI) will soon be establishing a field office in the
Province of Dinagat Islands. This is made possible with the approval of DTI’s
Rationalization Plan which provided for positions to be deployed in the new province.

But this early, DTI-Caraga’s regional office
through its Consumer Welfare Division (CWD) has made initial ground works in
the area as early as start of the 2nd half of this year.

At least five monthly price monitoring
activities were conducted in San Jose, the capital town of the province. Prices
of selected brands of basic necessities and prime commodities were checked in
21 selected stores.

Monitoring activities were also conducted for
147 firms in the seven municipalities of the province namely: Basilisa,
Cagdianao, Dinagat, Libjo, Loreto, San Jose and Tubajon for compliance of the
Price Tag Law (RA 7394, Art.81-83 & DAO 9, s.2002) and compliance with
Labeling (Art.77, RA 7394).

For the Standards Law (RA 4109/ DAO 2, s.2007),
13 firms selling construction materials and electrical supplies were monitored.
They were given a list of products under mandatory standards for their guidance
and were verbally instructed to sell only products with Import Commodity
Clearance (ICC) stickers and Philippine Standard (PS) marks.

The CWD reported over-all compliance in their
monitoring activities.

The regional team also embarked on municipal
briefing sessions on the rights and privileges of people with disabilities
(PWD) and the senior citizens especially when it comes to purchasing goods and
services. (DTI-13/PIA-Caraga)

Caraga rubber industry localizes national plan

By Jardynne R. Narvasa

BUTUAN CITY, Dec. 26 (PIA) - With the aim to
make Caraga become one of the top 4 producing regions of quality natural rubber
in the country, the Caraga rubber industry cluster members met to validate,
harmonize and localize the national rubber plans.

The meeting-workshop, which was conducted
recently, was attended by the Board of Directors of the Caraga Rubber Industry
Federation, Inc. (CRIFI) and support agencies such the departments of
agriculture (DA), environment and natural resources (DENR), agrarian reform
(DAR), trade and industry (DTI), the National Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) and local government units of Butuan City and Prosperidad,
Agusan del Sur.

DTI Agusan del Sur Provincial Director Lolita I.
Dorado presented the Philippine Rubber Industry Updates, while the line
agencies took turns in giving their reports and accomplishments in relation to
their efforts in the rubber industry development.

The group then reviewed the Philippine Rubber
Value Chain Map, Constraints and Opportunities as well as the 2014-2016
Industry Cluster Action Plan.

They also validated national vision, mission,
goals and strategic targets for the rubber industry as outlined in the
Philippine Rubber Master Plan before proceeding to localize the National Rubber
Convergence and Industry Cluster Action Plan.

As follow-through actions, the cluster will be
conducting a Basic Training on Rubber Tree Cultural Management and coordination
meetings to finalize the Caraga Value Chain Map as well as discuss matters for
endorsement to the Regional Development Council. (DTI-13/PIA-Caraga)

BUTUAN CITY, Dec. 26 (PIA) - The Rural Micro
Enterprise Promotion Program (RuMEPP) of the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) - Caraga will be ending its project assistance by close of this year.

DTI – Caraga Regional Director Brielgo O.
Pagaran is confident that local government units (LGUs) and micro financing
institutions (MFIs) in the region will continue to help rural microenterprises
(MEs).

“We have prepared for this by setting up the
LGU-RuMEPP partnerships as early as two years ago,” Pagaran said.

“Of course, our agency will continue with the
work and we will make sure that the MEs assisted will get continuing support if
they need it through our regular programs,” he added.

RuMEPP is a seven – year, US$ 22.826 million
programme funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
It aims to help poor entrepreneurs & rural families in the country by
providing technical and financial support, which can in turn benefit other poor
families through job opportunities.

The Caraga Region is one of only five (5)
regions that is benefited by RuMEPP. All its then four (4) provinces were part
of the 19 provinces implementing the programme. (DTI-13/PIA-Caraga)

Four of these projects were given to cooperators
in Agusan del Norte and Butuan City while the other two went to Agusan del Sur
groups.

The Agusan del Norte/Butuan City recipients are
IVORY .07 Arts and Crafts and Butuan-Agusan del Norte Handicrafts developers,
Inc. (BAHANDI). These arts and crafts groups were given identical sets of
sewing and foot machines for the production of various crafts from water lily
such as bags, sandals, slippers and shoes.

The other two groups got equipments for their
organic beverage projects (corn coffee and ginger/salabat). They are the women
group of Culit Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Taguibo Organic Farmers
Association for Sustainable Agriculture (TOFASA).

Cooperators/SSF recipients in Agusan del Sur
were those engaged in Coco-coir Geonets: Community-Based Twining and Weaving
Project and Organics: Processing and Packaging of Organic Inputs.

DTI’s SSF Development Program has been one of
the tools of the agency in assisting and empowering micro, small and medium
enterprise (MSMEs) to become more productive and competent entrepreneurs
locally and globally, through better technology and more sophisticated
equipment. (DTI-13/PIA-Caraga)